Honduran migrants demand buses to ease journey to US border

Honduran migrants marched through the streets of Mexico City on Thursday, demanding the UN to provide buses for transportation of the 'migrant caravan' advancing to the southern US border.

"We are condemned to the United Nations Organization, because apparently it is just a flag collector, as it is possible that buses were given for the humanitarian crisis to those who left Nicaragua and Venezuela, we are not in a political situation, authorities please stop politicizing, this is a humanitarian issue,” Milton Benitez said.

Arturo Peimbert Calvo from the Oaxaca Human Rights organisation said that his colleagues 'have recovered testimonies" from the migrants, revealing the existence of organized crime taking advantage of the migrants in the Mexican municipalities of the "City of Isla and Tierra Blanca."

Thousands of migrants, mostly fleeing violence and poverty, have been traveling for almost a month after the group first formed in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Although the caravan must still travel around 965 kilometres to reach the US-Mexico border, US President Donald Trump has stationed soldiers on the frontier already and has pledged to send thousands more.

Most of the migrants say they are seeking a new life and better opportunities in the US or Mexico. Others say they are fleeing violence in their home country and intend to apply for asylum.

Honduras, which has a population of about nine million, has endemic problems with gang violence, drug wars and corruption. The wider region has one of the highest murder rates in the world.

While Central Americans have long fled their homelands for the US and have sometimes joined forces along the way, the organized nature of this caravan is relatively new.

Migrants are often kidnapped by people traffickers and drugs gangs who force them to work for them. The migrants have mainly been sleeping on the streets or in makeshift camps and there is a lack of clean water and sanitation.